Season 17 of The Bachelor ended in happiness for Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici, who he proposed to in Thailand during the show’s finale. The couple got married two and a half weeks ago, but a lot happened before they got there.

In a short film for I Am Second, the reality star opened up about deciding to take part in the hit ABC show. “Never in a million years did I think I would do a cheesy reality TV show about love,” he said in the 12 minute video.

The Texas native actually first appeared on Emily Maynard’s season of The Bachelorette, but was eliminated before the final episode. “After about four or five weeks of getting to spend time with The Bachelorette, I thought, ‘I kind of like being around her,'” he admitted. “‘Wow, I’m actually developing feelings for this girl when there are all these cameras around. This is kinda nuts. I can see myself being her husband.'”

Once the six week hit, Sean revealed that he knew he was in love with the now-engaged (not to her season’s winner) mom. He even admitted that he tried to track down Emily’s number once filming ending, but she failed to return his call.

After that, the 31-year-old got his own phone call — to appear as the next season’s Bachelor. He accepted, but had some trepidations. “It’s unnatural to date 25 women at a time, and it felt wrong,” he explained. “A lot of the time, it felt wrong. I wrestled with it quite a bit, thinking, ‘I’m pretty sure God opened this door, but what if he didn’t? What if it’s just an opportunity that came about, and I’m actually harming my testimony by going on a show and dating multiple people at one time, and kissing multiple people?'”

Of course, less than a year later, he found love with Catherine, and the couple made headlines for deciding to wait until their wedding night to have sex. In the video, Sean opened up about his experience with sex in the past, which caused him to make that decision. “I would feel extremely guilty afterwards, but after that guilt faded, then I would start talking to some other girl and go down the same path,” he confessed.

Tonight, the former Bachelor will add to his resume by cohosting E! News with Catt Sadler.